Week 51: Mountains, mountains, and more mountains, swimming in a desert oasis, and more!
Adventures from Big Bend to Guadalupe Mountains National Parks
Hi, hello, and welcome back to another weekly update! I can’t believe we’re one week shy of a year of traveling full time — I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun — I’m still loving every minute of our grand advanture.
I’ve got a yearly wrap-up post in the works, so stay tuned.
For now, let’s get right to all the adventures from this week.
Sunday: Leaving Big Bend National Park
Sunday we sadly said farewell to our camp spot of two weeks in the Chisos Basin Campground of Big Bend National Park. I can’t believe the whole mountain road to the basin will be closed for two years for a renovation project (you can read more about that here.)
We used to come here every chance we got when we lived in Austin, TX. It was an 8.5 hour drive, but always worth it for the peace and beauty.
I’m really gonna miss it up here and tried to soak in every last second on our way out.
I must confess I cried a little on our way down the mountain. You can bet we’ll be back as soon as we can!
Marathon, Texas
Then it was on to Marathon, Texas, about an hour from the park. We stopped by the French Grocer to pick up a few things, and they had some locally made sourdough bagels — so good! We gobbled them up before I could get a photo, darn.
We filled up on fresh water at the Marathon Hotel and RV park since the filling station in the Chisos Basin Campground was closed.
Alpine, Texas
Next, we headed on down the road to Alpine to get groceries and gas. A trip to Alpine is not the same without stopping at Sul Ross University to visit the native cactus garden, so of course we had to stop.
We were laughing about how we stopped here at 1 am on a road trip back in our tent camping days — and it started snowing! So different from this visit when it was 100 degrees.
Wildlife Sightings!
We’re always on the lookout for prairie dogs and antelope when we drive by the the The Nature Conservancy’s Marathon Grasslands Preserve, and usually spot some. This time we didn’t see a single prairie dog — maybe it was too hot for ‘em? — but we did see a lone pronghorn antelope:
So cool!
A few miles down the road I spotted a BISON! So we had to turn around and see him, too:
Note: don’t get too close to bison y’all! This photo was zoomed in and taken out the window of the van.
Warnock Park Picnic Area
Home for the night was the Warnock Park Picnic Area, a tiny roadside park off Hwy 385. It’s a hidden little gem in the Glass Mountains with piñyon pines and junipers.
A front moved in so we were treated to an amazing sunset!
What a day!
Monday: A Big Day!
Our stay at the Warnock Park Picnic Area put us within a half hour drive to Fort Stockton, Texas where we had a bunch of errands to run, starting with getting a rock chip in our windshield repaired at West Texas Windshields. They were so nice!
Then we said hi to Paisano Pete, “the world’s largest roadrunner statue”:
Laundry Disaster Recovery
Next up on our list was the UPS store — which was also a wholesale liquor store and hardware store, and picked up a ton of packages — and by a ton I mean 15! We were so happy to get our replacement clothes after the laundry disaster a few weeks ago, when malfunctioning dryers shrunk our clothes and melted others.
Updated to add: I sent the clothes that shrunk to my sweet niece, and they fit her! She said they were comfy. WOO HOO! I donated the rest that were still wearable.
While we were waiting for the owner to open up, we talked to his wife and here they have kind of an empire in the area, with one son operating two Subways, including the one where we stopped last night, and another son had a Dunkin’ Donuts.
Then we picked up some groceries and then did laundry at Fabian’s — we’d passed this place so many times on our way to Big Bend that it was fun to finally check it out:
I was so happy that they had washers and dryers for oilfield workers only — so great not having our clothes smell like oil!
Balmorhea State Park, Texas
We stopped to eat dinner at Balmorhea State Park, Texas, where we wished we had time to go swimming but figured we better not. Now in hindsight we wish we would have!
Balmorhea State Park claims to have “the world’s largest spring-fed swimming pool” and it’s just so beautiful there. Of course had to check out the wetland restoration and spotted some turtles:
By this time the wind was really whipping and there were high profile vehicle alerts — not good when you’re in a van!
Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO), Pine Springs Campground
We made it to our camp spot in the Pine Springs Campground at Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO for short!) around 9 pm — it was really only 8 pm, but this part of Texas is on Mountain Time so we lost an hour, doh!
Look at the difference in our camp view from the dust that evening:
Versus the next day:
Whew!
Tuesday: Hiking at GUMO, Pine Springs Side
It was going to be another hot day, so I couldn’t wait to hike up to Smith Spring. It’s a beautiful oasis in the desert y’all — and it’s so hard to capture in photos.
The hike starts out going through the hot, dry desert:
And ends up in a oasis:
There are maidenhair ferns, bigtooth maple, madrone trees, and mini waterfalls. Just so beautiful.
We stayed up here most of the day. So relaxing and peaceful.
All too soon it was time to hike back to camp:
We also stopped by Frijole Ranch on the way out — I always love seeing all of the prairie grasses here:
What an awesome day!
Wednesday: Traveling to the Other Side of GUMO
If you’ve never been to GUMO, one thing you should know is that it’s a Wilderness Area, meaning there are no roads through the heart of the park. Getting to the other side of the park requires a 2.5 hour drive outside the park. So we turned it into an adventure!
Our first stop was Rattlesnake Springs, part of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and where the park gets its water:
The spring-fed water is so crystal clear you can see the plants growing along the bottom! It’s like an aquarium!
A few miles away we stopped at the Black River Management Area — another beautiful spot:
Then we stopped in Carlsbad, New Mexico to pick up one last package at the FedEx counter at Walgreens and it was on to…
Sitting Bull Falls, New Mexico
We’ve been coming to Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area for years now, but it was never the right time to go swimming — today was the day!
Sitting Bull Falls is another oasis in the desert — here are some stats from the park website:
This desert oasis features a series of spring-fed waterfalls that fall 150 feet (45.7 m) to a large pool of water below. There is an ADA accessible path to the falls viewing area a short distance from the parking lot, along with several hiking trails.
It’s super hard to capture in photos. Check out this video to get a better feel for this beautiful place (click to view):
The water was super cold — and felt super refreshing! Felt so good! There were yellow columbines blooming all around. Just so beautiful.
Look at the view from the parking lot — it’s so hard to believe that the falls are a short hike from here:
The ocotillos were blooming on the way out — what an eye-popping combo!
Thursday-Friday: Camp Days at Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO), Dog Canyon Campground
We made it to our campsite in Dog Canyon right after dusk and smelled something amazing — here the red barberries were blooming their heads off!
Then we collapsed in bed, with the sweet fragrance of the barberries filling our dreams.
Nature Trail Sunsets
We took it easy for the next few days, just hiking the Nature Trail at sunset:
Just so incredible:
Saturday: Hiking to Lost Peak and Beyond
It’s a good thing we rested up, because Saturday was a big hiking day! It was “only” supposed to be 88 degrees, so we decided to hike up to Lost Peak — and beyond!
The trail starts right from the campground at 6,290’ and heads up to 7,830’:
And soon crosses the wilderness boundary that I was telling you about earlier:
Pretty soon the Tejas Trail starts heading up, up, up, through a canyon:
The trail goes up a series of switchbacks with little shade, lotsa rocks, and spectacular views — like this one looking back down into the canyon:
The switchbacks start getting steeper, and the views get bigger and bigger:
Soon enough we made it to Lost Peak — my Dad jokes that it should be called Found Peak! — and soaked in the view from the saddle:
Then we started seeing all kinds of cool plants up on the ridge, starting with this claret cup cactus:
After the junction with the McKittrick Ridge trail we decided to continue on down the Tejas trail to find some shade and have a snack:
I did a quick sketch under the trees while Jason continued exploring — will have to share that later as it has a surprise! :)
One of the highlights from the hike for me was getting to see the desert roses blooming! This was our first time seeing them here:
Just so beautiful:
All too soon it was time to reverse our steps and head back to camp. But these wilderness views begged to be hiked. We gotta come back!
The light was so good on that view across from the saddle at Lost Peak that I had to take some more photos. They reminded me of an abstract painting:
One of the things I love most about this hike is being out in the wilderness. It’s so quiet and peaceful. And it makes all my problems feel small.
Needed that.
What a great hike, for 10 miles on the day for me, and 11 for Jason.
Winner of the Postcard Giveaway!
Last week I posted that I’d give away a postcard Big Bend to a random winner…
so I wrote everyone’s names on slips of paper, and Jason picked the winner!
And that winner is…
ROCHELLE! Yay! Just email me your address and I’ll pop the postcard in the mail the next time we’re near a post office.
We’ll be here at Dog Canyon for a few more days and plan to soak up every moment.
See you next week for a special post to celebrate our one year anniversary of selling our house to travel full time! — Lisa, Jason & Walter-the-Van
Lisa, I'm so enjoying the beauty of the southwest through your artist eyes. The stunning ocotillo blossoms against the impossibly blue sky made me laugh out loud - wow! The nature trail sunsets took my breath away - I wanted to be there to feel and listen to desert silence. Pronghorn sightings are a special treat; when we travel west and I spot pronghorn, I feel we're entering the land of open space, stars and the Milky Way and sights and sounds of Nature - all balm for the soul. Thank you for sharing this passion. Happy Trails!